An online survey has been launched asking the people of Glasgow about their experiences of beggars in the city centre and what needs to be done to tackle the issue.

The survey which has been created by Glasgow City Council and Police Scotland's charity, Community Safety Glasgow, will run until May 20 and aims to ask people who live, work, shop and socialise in Glasgow for their views on begging and how they react to beggars.

In addition to gathering opinions of the public, CSG are also asking people if they have experienced or witnessed aggressive begging or other problems, such as antisocial behaviour related to begging.

Staff from CSG are currently conducting on-street interviews with visitors to the city centre as part of the survey, and are hoping the information taken from the questionnaire will help shape future strategies to assist those involved in begging.

A spokesman for Community Safety Glasgow said: “The results of the survey will help us build up a clear, up-to-date picture of the nature and extent of begging in the city centre, the type of people involved and the problems they have. It will also tell us how people feel about begging and offer them an opportunity to contribute their ideas on how it might be addressed.”

The charity works with partners such as the Simon Community’s RSVP team which provides an outreach service to homeless people on behalf of Glasgow City Council and gives them information on support services such as where they can access food, shelter and help them register for accommodation.